Challenging Yourself
by Tails Fanatic
Summary: Fox is constantly thinking of Krystal while she has been away with Star Wolf. His attitude has changed some and he is ignoring most of his friends, but will a challenge from an old Rival make Fox change for the better or the worse?
1. The Message

Challenging Yourself

Author Notes: This story is based off the original ending of Star Fox: Command when you play through the game for the first time. I plan on making this a pretty long and continuing story, but that all depends on the popularity and my will to write, which at the moment is pretty good. I worked hard on this and it is my first attempted at writing in the Star Fox universe. I'm usually a Sonic only artist, but I have gained a new appreciation for Fox as of late, so here is my first attempt. I hope you all enjoy it. Not sure if the name of the fic is the best in the world, but it is all I could come up with.

Chapter 1: The Message

It has been nearly ten months since the Anglar invasion was thwarted from their invasion of the Lylat system. Things have really changed since then, some for the better and some for the worse. The federation has been rebuilding their fleet slowly but surely and reclaiming their control and presence on the planets in the system. Things were a little rocky at first, the usual fighting over funds and which programs got to be rebuilt first, but by now, the majority of the programs were nearing completion or partial completion.

Peace and order has finally been restored to the planet Venom. With the water now no longer hazardous and the planet seemingly safer, rebuilding there has commenced, as well as the building a new federation base as well, more of a safe guard for the future, because of the planets history. There may not be that many people on the planet at the moment, but this safe guard was deemed necessary after the several invasion and hostile forces that have been able to accumulate there without the federations notice. This base was going to be meant to prevent this from ever happening again.

Team Star Fox remains in active duty during the reconstruction since they are all still together and in pretty good shape even after all the problems during the invasion. They would go from planet to planet as ordered to, to check out suspicious activities and repel any rebels or outlaws that thought it good to attack the rebuilding federation or innocents in the cities.

Though there was a bit of a change with the team now though since Krystal was still gone from the team. After she ran away from the team yet again and returned to Star Wolf, she hasn't really been seen or heard from since. It was assumed that she was still with the group and most likely dating Panther Caruso from the last few things she told Fox. The team wandered around for awhile on just three members getting along great, though after awhile, they were approached by Katt Monroe who was wishing to join the team to take the place of the departed Krystal.

Katt had always wished to join up with the team to be near to Falco, though this idea did change after awhile when she wanted to expand her flying skills to an even more professional level that the rest of the team was at. Fox had really not cared at first when she wanted to join but Falco had some complaints at first concerning her all ways being around them. This did change after she had been 

around for a month, though he still acts sometimes like she shouldn't be in the group, he does seem to act at least a little calmer when they are flying with her around, though it was never much to make much a difference with him.

The team seemed pretty stable now and the system stable as well. There has really not been that much trouble, and even Star Wolf had not been heard from since the invasion. It was if they had disappeared for awhile, which with most people was a good thing. No bounty had ever been put on Krystal's head as of yet since she had joined the team, but the others knew it was only a matter of time if she started participating in the acts that the others had committed in their time during their time in the team. This did worry Fox, and kind of eat at him from time to time, but he was trying to move on the best he could, though this was not having much success since he really didn't want her to leave after he had apologized to her.

It seemed Fox had definitely been affected by her leaving and basically abandoning her after he tried to apologize for what he had done to her, but it seemed she no longer wanted to be with him and it was hurting. Peppy and Slippy were constantly trying to get his mind off of her whenever they would return to Corneria. They would try and make him get out and maybe meet someone else, but any place they would take him, he would just be staring at the walls or ignoring the people that were being introduced to him, his mind constantly wandering off to Krystal once again, since she was the person has had shared his feelings with at one time and now was alone once again.

When Fox was working or partaking in a mission he seemed to be his normal self and would get the job done with the utmost precision and success. Though the second he would return to the ship, he would usually lock himself inside his room for the rest of the day. It seemed he didn't carry much joy as he used too and would only show his seriousness when he really wanted to. The others were kind of concerned with this, but just hoping it would eventually pass. That is what all of them think and are hoping for.

At the current time, the Great Fox is floating just outside the atmosphere of the planet Corneria. Team Star Fox had currently come from a debriefing down in the planet after their last mission where they had to go after a small band of rebels on the nearby planet Katina. It only lasted a few moments, when the rebels foolishly tried to attack the Great Fox in just four small well out of date space fighters. They had never stood a chance against them, but had been causing some pretty good problems for the people rebuilding their homes in this region since they were finally returning to their homes after so long of being away.

The team was planning on just staying here and resting for the rest of the day before heading further into space to go on patrol for anything that looked out of the ordinary and for now it looked like just that was what they were going to be doing for today. Fox was currently locked up inside his room as usual. Inside he was laying on his bed still fully clothed and looking out his large window next to his bed just staring into space. He did this a lot and always wondering what was becoming of his life. He was the hero of the system for his constant service in protecting everyone several times now. He had a 

successful team that was in constant need because of their expert pilots, and he had several friends that cared about him. Yet he still had this empty feeling inside of him.

He knew what it was, but could never do a thing about it seemed. Ever since Krystal had run off and not been seen in awhile, he constantly wondered if she was still safe and alive. He also wondered if she was doing the horrible deeds known to be done by members of Star Wolf. He always just laid here on his bed looking out the window staring into space to see if he would ever get a glimpse of her again. He knew that was possible never going to happen, but he always prayed for a miracle that maybe he would one day as she returned to him and never leave again.

He has been doing this for so long that he cannot remember when he started or half the time when a whole night had passed of doing this and not getting one wink of sleep until he was summoned out of the room for some reason, that had to be important. If it was not an emergency, he tended to just let the others handle it when they could; he was just too upset to come out unless it was urgent.

Up on the bridge, Slippy is sitting at the computers checking over the Great Fox to make sure everything was in working order. Katt is sitting on the other side of the bridge watching monitors and manning the communication network at the moment. These monitors helping her check their position to make sure they were at where they were supposed to be and maintaining that position as well. The Robot ROB was programmed at the moments to maintain their current course of orbit around the planet and report any dangers to their ship. Falco was absent from the bridge at the moment though, he excusing himself to kitchen of the ship to get himself something to eat, since he was bored with bridge duty at the moment.

Everything was quiet and continued to be quiet all around the ship. Just the occasional clangs of little rocks outside knocking at the hull of the ship or the beeps and noises of circuits working was all that was being heard. No was really talking at the moment, or wanting to talk. It had been a very tiring day having to go down to the planet and listen to a general talk for about an hour telling them how they had done a good job and to apologize for sending them on such easy missions. It was mainly because regular Cornerian forces were busy elsewhere at the moment and they were the quickest in range of the planet.

Who knew that the federation had been hurt so hard by the Anglar invasion that it was taking this long to fix all the repairs and train enough new recruits to fill all the space lost during the war. They all knew it was going to take awhile, but this was taking quite a bit longer than normal. Apparently that was because of the so many invasions, people were starting to become a bit wary about joining up, since it most likely could mean your death at some point if you joined. It took the governments a long while to convince people that there was no longer any threat to the system that would guarantee them seeing combat. It did work, but it was working at a very slow pace, since many people still didn't believe them in this.

Everyone sat there on the bridge before a small beep starts to happen over at Katt's station. The communicators were going off, someone seemed to be wanting to contact them. "Slippy, we have an incoming transmission, source unknown, it is being blocked." says Katt relaying what she was getting 

from the communicators. Slippy starts to pound on his keyboards he trying to pick up where the signal was coming from very quickly, but ran into a jammer the moment he tried to, it seemed the source of the transmission didn't want to be found. "I can't find the source either, can you tell what the person on the other end wants." he asked her spinning his chair around to face her as she presses a few buttons. "It won't give that information either, you better get fox up here, no telling who this is." Say Katt turning to face him. "Don't worry, I'll just send him a quick message down to his room to tell him to come up right away." says Slippy and starts to type up a message that would get Fox's attention, he placing it under urgent since there was no telling who the sender was.

Down in Fox's room, he is still laying there on his bed staring out the window. His mind was lost in thought he barely hearing his computer near his bed beeping with an urgent alert on it. Fox almost didn't hear it, but it eventually broke his concentration as he leans up and sees the urgent alert on the screen and shakes his head aggravated wondering what it was this time. He clicks the computer to give the people upstairs that he got the message and would be up shortly to see what they want. He really wasn't in the mood at the moment to go up and deal with some emergency or whatever it was, but he knew he better or Slippy would be pounding on his door like a madman and he would rather avoid that whole situation after a day like today.

Fox slipped his boots back onto his feet and walks over pressing the button to make his door slide open and he step out into the hallway so that he could make his way towards the bridge. He doesn't say one word as he is walking down the hallway, just the metal clangs of the floor making noise as he walks. He really wasn't in the mood for this, but he was doing it anyway. He would rather still be back there in his room looking out his window day dreaming, but of course, duty was calling once again for him.

It took Fox nearly five minutes before the door slides open to the bridge and he walks onto it the others looking at him as he enters. The communication center was still beeping as well too. Apparently whoever was on the other end of it was patient enough to wait for Fox to get there and not just go away. "Now, what is this big emergency that needed my attention so urgently Slippy? I was about to try and get some sleep soon." he says lying to him to kind of suddenly since he really didn't want to be up here at the moment. Slippy was a little caught off guard with this attitude towards him so suddenly like this, but he kind of could understand that he would be upset too if he was called up here like this when he was trying to sleep as well.

Katt looks up to Fox and gets his attention. "We have a communication coming in with blocked signal that we can't track. We have no clue who it is, so we thought it best to get you up here before we activated it, though we did sent a response back to be patient, so they should be still on the line." she tells him right away looking back at him. Fox hears this and nods and goes over and sits in the main captain's chair of the craft and looks up towards the big windows all around him. "Activate the monitors and let's see who our mysterious caller is then." he says in such an uninterested voice that sounds as if he wouldn't mind just leaving them on hold forever. Fox though got a very big shock once the monitors popped on and showed the person on the other end staring back at him. It was none other than his rival 

Wolf O'Donnell staring right back at him with those same eyes he always has ever since they started being in competition with each other so long ago.

"Took you long enough to answer Fox." he says sounding kind of ticked off at having to wait so long for a response from them. "What, did I catch you in the middle of bed time?" he says just grinning and kind of insults everyone in the room, who were now all looking up at the monitors as well, but Fox looks quite angry as he is staring at the screen with Wolf on it. "What do you want Wolf, you come to finally surrender to us?" he asks already knowing the answer to that , but wanting Wolf to just get on with it, so he didn't have to sit there and look at his face any longer than he had to. It seemed just seeing Wolf was making Fox steamed for some reason, though he was trying his best to hide it. "Fat chance, but I have something far more interesting to propose to you Fox." he says looking only at Fox, ignoring the other two in the room looking right at him as well. "I'm listening and make it quick." says Fox just sitting there trying to look calm.

"Kind of moody today are we?" says Wolf and just chuckles some he kind of liking seeing Fox like this, since it made him not look all high and mighty and in control as he would like to be in most situations. "I said hurry up or I'm cutting this line." says Fox in a more aggressive tone towards Wolf. The two of them are usually calm to one another when they talked like this, but Fox was just not himself lately as he glared back at Wolf at the moment. "Fine, if you wish to just get down to business, I'll do just that. I am calling for a battle, just you and me, no tricks or funny business, just you and me. I will leave my partners behind if you do the same." Says Wolf and just watches to see the others reactions to this. It certainly did get the others attention at hearing this, especially Fox who was grinning at this. "You want a fight, fine, name the place and time and I'll be there Wolf." he says just looking back at the screen still trying to keep his composure as he looked at one of the people he was most angry at, at the moment.

"Good, good, just what I wanted you to say. Now, you better get this recorded, because I'm only saying it once you got that." says Wolf and just waits for a moment before continuing. "If you wish to heed my challenge then meet me tomorrow on Fichina at midday. No matter the weather conditions there I will be waiting, so you better show up. If you don't, I will quickly spread it around that you denied a fair challenge to your combat skills, and I'm sure you don't want that." he says knowing this will most likely get him to come since he knows that if the Star Fox team doesn't keep up their reputation then they will lose respect, which might cause more troubles that they didn't need. "I'll be there." says Fox right away before consulting the others which kind of shocked them since they usually consulted about matters like this. "Good, I'll be waiting." says Wolf before the feed cuts and the screen goes black.

"Fox, you can't be serious, that is obviously a trap." says Slippy standing up from his seat to emphasize how much he thought his theory was the right one. "Slippy's right Fox, this has to be a trap. No way would Wolf just submit to a fair fight out of the blue without having come up with some plane beforehand." says Katt. "Yeah, what she said, you need to listen to us Fox, we need to come up with a plan of defense in case Wolf tries to pull something on you if we are to go." says Slippy still standing near the railing of the seat Fox sat in not moving at all or even looking at them as the two of them talk to them.

Fox remains quiet for a bit more as they continues to lecture him on how it was most likely a trap before he just looks over towards both of them and just shakes his head. "I'm going." he says simply leaving the both of them in shock at this response. "What! No way Fox, this is dangerous. Even I can spot this trap." says Slippy, though that didn't really mean that much since Slippy can fall into even the most obvious traps at times. Katt just shakes Fox off and goes back and sits In her seat once again, she seeing she wasn't going to be getting through to him, and wasn't going to waist her time like Slippy seemed to be. "If he wants to go, we can't stop him." she says simply to Slippy to try and make him shut up about this.

Just then the door to the bridge slides open as Falco finally is returning to the bridge he hearing all the yelling and complaints on his way there. "What is the deal with all the noise I heard coming from in here?" he asks simply stepping onto the bridge he kind of not wanting to deal with things like this at the moment. Slippy doesn't waste time to tell him, since he was most likely not going to get a response from Fox who was still staring up towards where the monitors were like he was looking for something he couldn't see. He had been like that since the screen had turned off, he hasn't even moved away from looking yet. "We just got contacted by Wolf, and he gave Fox a flying challenge for tomorrow, and he's actually thinking about going!" says Slippy, he expecting Falco to get on his side of this. Katt no longer responding to him, she now actually ignoring him.

Falco looked at Slippy when he says that and back at Fox and just gives a simple shrug and seemed to almost be looking past Slippy now. "Hey, if Fox wants to take him on, I'd say let him. Sure it might be a trap, but if you are challenge, you have to accept or else you are not worthy to be flying around in your ship with honor. I know if I was challenged like that I would be wanting it to be sooner rather than later." says Falco right away, he barely even thinking about it, but there really wasn't a need to in this matter.

Slippy was now looking like he was in shock now. Yet again, someone had ignored his suggestion in favor of going for the challenge. He could see that no one was listening to his suggestions and just finally goes over and sits back down. He knows this is very suspicious but no one is listening to him. If this was a trap then they were going to be very unprepared to react to it, but no one seemed concerned about it, not even Fox, who was still staring up into space.

After about ten minutes of silence he finally spoke. "Rob, set a course Fichina." says Fox suddenly he breaking the silence that had been in the room now. The others all look to him as he says this, it showing that he definitely was intent on going to take this challenge, much to the concerns of his friend Slippy. Fox's robot starts to press in some buttons and coordinates for them to take towards the desired planet and confirms to his owner. "Affirmative, course to the Planet Fichina confirmed." says Rob as the ship gives a small kick at the engines kick on and it starts to move towards the direction the ship should be moving in to head to the designated destination.

"Estimated time of arrival Rob?" asked Fox looking over at him, as Rob presses a few buttons upon hearing the new request. "Arrival at normal thruster speed is five hours." says Rob after only a few button presses bring him to this conclusion, of which Fox approved of. They could have gotten there 

much faster, but there was no rush since they didn't really need to be there until the next day, but better to get there early than to be late for something. The others seemed happy with this, since there were no complaints at all, so Fox assumes everything is good and stands up and walks to towards the door to the bridge. "I'm going back to my room. Call me once we arrive and I'll return to the bridge, I'm sure you guys can handle things until we get there." he says not even giving the others a chance to respond to him before he has already made his way out of the door, it closing quickly behind him.

The others all looked over at the door that Fox had just left out of off and then look back at each other. It was like they all were at least a little concerned for him, since he barely was spending any time with them at all or even that much time on the bridge at all. Slippy was always the most concerned about him, While Falco and Katt were a little less worried about him, figuring this would eventually pass. Though none of them knew this or not, but they did all figure it was still over Krystal since that is what at first brought him into this state.

Meanwhile, back in Fox's room, Fox was just returning into his room, the door sliding open and closed quickly as he entered the room. He locked it behind him, kicks his boots back off and lies back down onto his bed looking out the window like he had been doing earlier once again. This time though he had a few other thoughts running through his mind as he looks out into the endlessness of space. This message from Wolf couldn't have been any better than any other idea he had to probably see what has become of Krystal again. He was planning if he won to at least inquire about how Krystal had been doing this time, since he had not heard anything about her ever since she left. He didn't know if she would ever accept him back or not, but he at least still wanted to stay in contact with her. But with her in Star Wolf as she is, that was nearly impossible.

There would be no way Wolf or Panther would ever allow something like this and that just got at his mind even more making him wondering what he really should be doing now. He had friends and other people that really cared about him, but the person he cared about the most in the universe, didn't seem to return that same care back towards him, like she had at one point. He constantly blames himself for this, because if he had not been so stubborn in driving her away in an effort to protect her, most likely the two of them would still be together to this day. He constantly is reliving this moment in his sleep and inside his head and he easily seeing each time where he had gone wrong in doing so. He was just too stubborn for his own good. She was willing to take the risk of being in love with an ace pilot that could possible meet his end or her own end at any time, but he didn't think the same and drove her away.

Fox just stares out this window sighing and taking deep breaths as he let his thoughts continue to run through his mind. There was no way he was coming out of this room again at the moment until they reached their destination. That would give him the time he needed to get his thoughts together and his plan of attack. He knew Wolf wasn't going to be an easy opponent and no doubt he might play dirty a little bit, but with Wolf, anything was possible as he had seen in the last two invasion with Star Wolf had helped them out in defeating the Aparoid's and the Anglar's. This always made Fox think things could always change between the groups, but with their attitudes the majority of the time that was highly unlikely.

Fox lays there staring into space as he eyes slowly start to get heavy until they were fully shut. He hadn't planned on it, but he figured he should at least get a little rest since he was here so he wasn't tired for the encounter. He was going to need every bit of energy he could use before he took on Wolf one on one. Who knows, maybe this would be the final encounter, but if it was, he had to be prepared. Fox just lays there with his eyes closed listening the engine of the Great Fox for a few minutes before he drifts off to sleep. He just lays there resting, trying to get a peaceful night sleep for once, but his face and twitching was showing otherwise as he lays there. The challenge was only about a half a day away now, but is Fox prepared for it?


	2. Worries and Preparations

Challenging Yourself

Chapter 2: Worries and Preparations

All around was just completely black, it was as if the lights everywhere had gone out and Fox couldn't see a thing. "Hello? Anyone there?" he called out but all he got was his echo and no response at all. Fox was wondering where in the world he was. It was like he was in a world of nothingness with no way of escape. He knew that couldn't be possible so there had to be some way to escape this place.

Just then though he hears what sounded like some footsteps coming from off in the distance. His ears perk on up and he turns to look in the direction of the incoming steps and got a giant shock. What he saw was Krystal walking right towards him calmly and smiling. Fox's eyes light on up and he gets up to start to run towards her. As Fox nears her though, she suddenly changes direction and starts to walk the other way. "NO! Wait Krystal!" he yells out he running harder trying to catch her, but she just starts to get farther and farther away.

She just keeps on walking for a bit before stopping and turning to face him, though she was still off in the distance, she was looking right at him. Fox stopped right where he was and looks at her smiling and hopeful that she was going to walk right on back over towards him. "Krystal?" he calls out calmly hoping she would respond this time, but when she did, it wasn't what he expected. "Sorry Fox, you had your chance, I have a new man now." she says and suddenly out of nowhere Panther appears right next to her as she leans against him. "He's my man now Fox, he actually trusts me." she says and nuzzles into Panther's fur smiling.

Fox looks out wide eyed and shocked at what he was seeing and looks kind of upset at this. "But Krystal, I didn't mean it, you have to let me explain!" he says starting to look a bit panicked now, he not wanting what he saw to be reality. Krystal just shakes her head and stays close to Panther's body. "I'm sorry Fox, you are just going to have to move on, WE are through." she says straight away without any hesitation and her and Panther turn and start to walk away from him into the blackness of nothingness.

Fox starts to run again towards her in a frantic pace he trying to catch up to them, but instead, they just fade away and he is left alone in a void of nothingness again. He drops down to his knees and just stares into the direction of where the two had disappeared to and looked totally heartbroken. He couldn't believe what he had just seen or heard she had just basically just shot him down and went off with a new person that wasn't him, and worse yet, it was one of his enemies. Fox had a few tears coming out of his eyes now as he was feeling like he really shouldn't be continuing what he is doing anymore.

Just then Fox shoots up, he was still in his bed in his room on board the Great Fox. He was covered in sweat and his heart was beating very fast. He takes a few breaths, he breathing pretty hard and finally realizes that what he had just experienced was just a bad dream. It was some dream though to him, because it was so realistic. He actually heard Krystal's voice and saw her with his own eyes. That dream though was not a first, he has had a few times before and it comes back whenever he thinks me may have a clue to finding her again, it was almost like something inside of him was telling him 

something whenever he started getting close, but he just ignores it and tries to get on with his search as usual.

Fox looks out his window, he trying to wipe some of the sweat off of him and sees right outside the window was the planet Fichina just below him. It seems that they had arrived at their destination, but there was no telling how long they had been there, but obviously he had been asleep for quite awhile, even though it didn't feel like that to him after that dream he had. He puts his hand to the window and closes his eyes to just sit there and think.

Had what he just experience a dream, or was it something more? He had no idea of telling, but he was tired of it haunting him and appearing so often to him. He pushes his covers off of him and stands up and walks over into his private bathroom and right over to the sink. He presses the button to make some cold water start in the sink and reaches his hand to grab some of the water and throw it up into his face. The cold water felt good mixing with his fur and washing the sweat off of his head. He then just looks up and stares into the mirror at himself. All he saw was himself but he was trying to look deeper than that and try and figure out why he did the things he had done to Krystal. Had he really been that selfish in making her leave like that originally? He thought he was just protecting her, but apparently she had seen it a different way than he had, and he has suffered for it. He thought he had her back at one point, but she just returned to Panther and Star Wolf as if nothing they had been through had ever mattered and this crushed him, and he no longer really knew what he should be doing.

Fox eventually exits the bathroom and goes over to his closet so that he could put on his piloting uniform, since he would need it today. It didn't take him long to throw it on, not really neat either and exit the room. The halls were pretty dark and there wasn't any noise going on around the ship. Apparently, everyone else was in bed themselves now. Fox had totally forgotten to check the time of the day, but if the others weren't awake, then it must be sometime early in the morning. He makes his way on down the halls passing the others doors as he is walking, and can see the red lights of locked doors which confirmed to him that they must all still be in bed themselves. That didn't really matter to him, and would just give him some more time to himself before he had to leave.

Fox soon gets to the bridge and goes right over to his captain's chair and sits right on down in it to relax some. It had been awhile since he was alone on the bridge of his ship. ROB was still in standby mode and would detect if there were any enemies or emergencies coming towards the ship, but in the mean time, Fox was all alone on the bridge, just beeping noises from instruments that are always running on the ship. This was helping him calm on down so that he could try and get his bearings back after that bad dream, which he hoped was a thing of the past this time.

Fox got the bridge alone for only about a half hour before the door slides on open and Katt walks onto the bridge, she kind of shocked to see that he was already awake and on the bridge no less. Fox spun around in his seat to see her coming in and just gives a smile to try and pass off that nothing was wrong or that he had that bad dream. "Good morning Katt." he says calmly to her, which she nods and goes over and sits in her seat she is assigned to sit at. "Good morning Fox, I'm glad to see you finally 

up here on the bridge again." she says and puts some headphones on her head to be able to go right to her duties of listening in for messages.

Fox spins back around in his captain's chair and looks up towards the giant window that lets him see into space. "Yes, well, I wanted to be prepared. I only have about two hours before the challenge and if I was late, Wolf would hold that as an insult and there would be no telling what he might do then." he says and just looks out that window still not moving. Katt nods understanding that reasoning fully. "Yes, that sounds about right with Wolf. Well, I'm glad that you're feeling up to this since you haven't been looking to well lately you know." she says and types a few things on her keyboard to set up her settings so that she could begin her tracking and such. "Well, I better be or Wolf will run all over me. If I have even the slightest lap in my concentration, he will take advantage of it and take me down." says Fox and just continues looking straight up into the sky like he has been so much lately.

Katt looks over at him and shakes her head some. "For someone that is supposed to be very calm and getting his thoughts together, you certainly don't act it at times Fox. I know you're hurting still Fox, but if you don't try and let your feelings go at some point, they are just going to continue to bug and haunt you. I know you still care, but if you don't let some of these feelings go, you're not going to be yourself fully for a long time Fox." says Katt she just hoping that he listens to her. She may not have been in the team that long, but even she was starting to grow concerned for Fox. He just was never the same anymore. He used to be so very different when she first met him, not though, he barely said anything or did anything half the time, and this concerned her and his friends.

Fox sighs some and looks to Katt and gives her a smile to try and get her to cheer up some as well. "I'm sorry for how I have been." he says sighing once again looking pretty upset still. "I know I've not been myself lately, but I just have been going through a rough time you know? I have never felt like this before and still have a few things to work through. When I have worked through those things, I will try and be myself again, that is if I can ever be the same Fox ever again. These are things I can't tell you yet Katt. I'm glad you're worried about me and I'm glad all my other friends are worried about me as well. I will be fine though and work through this at my own pace. I hope you understand alright?" he asks her giving her a half smile just trying to please her. He really had just made his problems look better than they actually were. If she or any of his other friends knew how much all this was bothering him, then they would never let up on him. He wanted that though and to just get on with his life, but his mind just wouldn't let him, as he constantly was thinking about his big mistake and how he could have changed what he did or what else he could do in his future to fix his mistake.

Katt just shakes her head some and sits there and looks at him still looking out that window. "Alright Fox, I trust you, just be sure you do work through your problems soon though? You're worrying all your friends a lot. I can tell." she says and goes back to her console to get back to work. She knew he still was trying to get over his break up with Krystal, but she was hoping he would have worked it out by now, but apparently, he still hasn't even after all this healing time.

All Fox could do now is just sit there and look out the window and wait for his time to go to the challenge to come now. He was no longer tired or felt like heading back to his bedroom, nor did he feel 

like eating at the moment. He was too into his thoughts and expectations to the upcoming battle with Wolf to think about eating something. If he got into trouble, he didn't want to be losing his breakfast in his lap there in the cockpit during the fight. Though with Wolf, he most likely would love that to happen to Fox, so he must not allow it to happen.

As the hour of the battle neared Fox, his attitude never changed once. He showed no sign of nervousness or sign of worry about what was to come. This kind of concerned both Katt and Slippy who had come up to the bridge a few ago to get to work checking Fox's arwing to make sure it was all good to go. The last thing Fox needed was for his arwing to run into an error or have a defective part going into battle. He would be shot down for sure, and if Fox wasn't going to listen to his friends advice about this battle possibly being a trap or something of the sorts, then Slippy was focused on making Fox's ship the best it could be to prepare for the battle.

Falco had never shown up onto the bridge so far and if he didn't get there soon, he was going to miss seeing Fox off. His lateness to everything was getting annoying to them all, especially Katt who often had to go down to his room and bang on his door until he woke up, he always forgetting to set his alarm clock to wake up in the morning. At the moment, the way the time was going and he still not having shown up on the bridge, an encore of that might be coming soon. It never was a quiet affair and often ended up in an argument now long after, but everything usually got accomplished in it, thus why Fox and Slippy let it continue.

It was still an hour before the battle and suddenly ROB starts moving around a lot he seeming to have detected something, which immediately got Fox's attention. "ROB, how you detected something?" asked Fox wanting to know, his attention always seeming to get a lot more aggressively excited when ever there might be news of an approaching or passing ship near the Great Fox. ROB presses a few more buttons before responding to Fox. "A ship is detected passing close by to us heading for the planet surface. Speed is decreasing as it is about to enter the atmosphere." says ROB in his usual robotic sounding voice. Slippy and Katt both turn hearing that and look up at ROB. "ROB, put the ship onto our monitors so that we may see it." says Fox giving a command to ROB he sounding very similar to his old self at the moment.

"Affirmative." says ROB and presses a few more buttons and eventually brings the monitor on screen up so that they could see the ship that was heading for the surface, though when they did see it, Fox wasn't all that surprised. What he was a red, black, and white space fighter heading right towards the atmosphere of the planet. It took Fox only one glimpse to recognize that ship as a Wolven, most likely Wolf going down to the planet, making sure he was seen in the process to go scout out their battle zone ahead of time. He didn't try and reach us on the comm. system, so he most likely just wanted us to see that he was already there and that he had seen us already there waiting for him. "Well, looks like Wolf is going down ahead of time to scout some. We should probably do the same, but instead of doing it like that. Hey Slippy, can you get a reading of what it is like down there on the surface of Fichina for me?" asked Fox looking towards Slippy with a smile on his face actually. It seemed Fox actually seemed a bit happy about having to do this, something the others loved to see this on his face.

"Sure thing Fox, let's see what we can get." says Slippy and starts pecking keys on his keyboard, stopping his scan of Fox's arwing to scan the planet for him, which was also a vital piece of information that would be needed before Fox went down there to meet up with Wolf. It took Slippy a few minute of typing and scanning before he turns back to Fox with not a good looking face though. "Whoa, this is sure some day to be trying to fly your arwing down there in a battle. There is a light blizzard going on right now on Fichina. It's not a heavy one, but still very risky to be flying and will limit your visibility severely Fox. There is no threat of lightning, but this snow is going to slow you down a lot. If you have to go through with this, your radar is going to be your life saver when you're down there." says Slippy giving his report on his findings of his scan.

Fox scratched his chin hearing this. It wasn't what he was expecting since having an air battle during a light blizzard was going to be quite hard and dangerous. He most likely could go against him in those conditions, but he was going to have to be so much more careful flying out there in this. He didn't know if Wolf knew of these weather conditions or not, but if he did or not, he was finding out right now, because he was heading down to the surface right now. He was going to have to be at his utmost best now if he hoped to win or even not crash his plane in these conditions. They were going to be testing all his piloting experience to fly in a light storm, while at the same time having a fighter battle.

"You sure you're still fine doing this Fox? This sounds pretty dangerous now, not even adding on the riskiness of the fight into the matter as well. This weather is bad, and could easily get worse at any time Fox. If I were you, I would pull out of this battle and rather be safe than sorry." says Slippy he really wishing Fox would listen to him now that there was another factor to consider than just the battle. Fox though didn't seem to be seeing it that way and quickly shakes his head to Slippy. "Thanks but no thanks my friend, this is something that I must do for myself. I hope you understand why I must go ok? If this was someone else other than Wolf, I would ask them to postpone the fight or take it out here into space, but since this is Wolf, I must do whatever is necessary to take him on and hopefully take him down." says Fox giving out his small speech to the others, just wanting them to understand he has to do what he has to do.

Slippy and Katt really thought he should be reconsidering this decision, but they already knew they weren't going to be able to change his mind at this point. He was totally set on challenging Wolf in that blizzard and it didn't seem like anything they could say was going to stop him from going down to that planet, so they didn't try to fight this time. The two of them just go back to what they were doing before Slippy did the planet scan as if the previous conversation had not taken place. They did still have their concerns, but they were just letting them pass for Fox's sake.

Falco was finally entering the bridge at about this point, he only a few minutes away from getting one of his usual wake up calls by Katt. As he walks onto the bridge Katt turns towards him and just grins. "Well, looks like lazy bones finally woke up." she says right to him, knowing that was most likely going to get his goat right away, which of course it did as he turns to face her. "Hey, just because I'm not a early riser like you seem to be, doesn't mean I couldn't if I really wanted to you know, and those wake up calls get annoying after awhile too." he says complaining right away about her. Slippy and Fox both roll their eyes knowing what was coming and just keep quiet to stay out of it.

Katt just chuckles some and stays sitting down, she not feeling like she wanted to get up and get in his face yet. "Heh, well, if you would actually wake up at normal hours and wouldn't be late for every single thing we do around here, maybe I wouldn't need to wake you up the way I do." she says right straight at him. Falco gives a bit of a glare towards her and walks over towards her. "Hey, I never asked for those wake up calls, and I'm not ALWAYS late. Sure I am sometimes, but what an entrance I make when I do. If I am going to be late, it must be a spectacular one that shows off my skills in a great way." he says being a bit cocky now. Katt rolls her eyes straight away at hearing that she expecting another one of his cocky remarks. "Please, you just show up late to everything, and then just pull off foolish maneuvers that could easily get you killed if you aren't careful, though you and careful are foreign things." replies Katt right on back towards him.

Falco's mouth falls agape for a moment at hearing her say that before he scowls a bit now. "Hey, I'll tell you something Katt. I know exactly what I am doing, each and every time I get into my ship. I have a lot of experience, a lot more than you do, so if I want to pull off these moves and put myself in danger slightly, I will do just that. If you don't like it, then that is just too bad, because I will keep doing what I do best, you got that Katt! " he says in a pretty angry and rude voice. Katt sits there and stares at him for a moment after he says that and then just stands up from her seat and walks right on out of the room, the door shutting quickly behind her, all that is heard, is her shoes clicking on the metal floors as she leaves the bridge.

Falco watches as she leaves and looks very confused now. "What? What is up with that girl anyway?" he asks the other two, who both were just looking right at him after what he had said and done. "Oh that was good talking back there Falco. Just the right things to say." says Slippy, even he knowing that Falco had been rather rude to her, when she really just wanted him to show some respect and try and help him out a bit. Fox had heard the whole thing and just scowled a bit at Falco and turned the seat back around to not look at him again for the moment. Slippy did the same as Fox and turns away from Falco who looks just confused at the both of them as he just goes over and takes a seat there on the bridge.

No one says a word after all this happens. Katt took about twenty minutes before she ever returned the bridge, she looking like she had just gotten out of the shower or something to clean up, because she still looked a tad wet. Fox could put two and two together and knew why she would do that, but he wasn't a fool to point that out to the others, especially Falco, who of course, never even seemed to notice her returning to the bridge. Fox seeing what time it was though figures it's about time that he get going now, since he only had ten minutes now before the meeting should be taking place. Leaving now should get him there right on schedule as long as there were no difficulties in leaving the ship.

Fox turns around in his chair and finally gets up, heading down the small stairs that leads up to his seat and walks towards the door. "I am heading on out now guys. Slippy, my Awings preparations are ready correct?" he asks him waiting for that before he would start his way down towards the hangar bay. Slippy spins around and nods to Fox. "Yeah Fox, preparations for departure are complete. Your Arwing is ready to head out as soon as you get into it." says Slippy and smiles towards Fox to give him 

that last bit of encouragement that he might need before heading on out. Fox looks at everyone one more time before heading on out the sliding door and starts to make his way on down the halls towards the docking bay.

Fox makes his way down the hallways slowly and quietly. He never says one word on his way down towards the docking bays he really seeing no reason too, when he should just be concentrating on what he should be concentrating on, and at the moment, that was get into his ship and get down to the surface. Though a few other thoughts were entering his mind as he was walking down that hall, he was blotting them out just to clear his mind and calm on down.

When he finally makes it to the docking bay, he walks over to his arwing that was hanging in a lock ready to be released and flown away. There were three other ships there in the bay with him, belonging to his team mates, but he was kind of glad they were staying behind, since he would rather do this alone anyway, even if all of them had been invited instead of just him. This was just going to be him and Wolf, no one else. He walks on over towards his arwing and stands there for a moment before pressing the button to make the hatched roof of the ship to come up so that he would be able to get on inside.

Fox climbs on up and sits down firmly into his pilot's seat and buckles his safety harness right away when he gets inside. He presses a button on his control panel and the roof comes on back down and slides into place locking up. He sits there for a moment and puts his head set on his head now and turns it on. "This is Fox, do you guys read me?" he asks through his communication system to test it quickly. "Slippy here." he says rather quickly. "Falco here, I read you loud and clear Fox." he responds right after Slippy. "Katt here, here if needed Fox." she responds soon after Falco. "Good, sounds like all communications are working." says Fox and reaches forward and flips the engines on, they starting to fire up rather quickly and making a humming noise as they are firing up.

Fox flips more switches to bring things like his radar, lasers, stabilizers, online before he would leave the hangar. He watches as his screen comes online in front of him for radar, the online buttons lighting up as other devices in the arwing are firing up and becoming ready to use now. He soon after clicking so many buttons finds all systems look ready for him to take off now, except for the unlocking mechanism to let his ship go so that he could kick the thrusters on and leave the ship. "All systems are working fine, unlock me so that I may take off." he says giving his command to the bridge so that he could be released and get on down to his meeting.

ROB comes onto the radio this time upon Fox saying this. "Locks being removed now." says ROB as Fox can hear the locks disengaging and moving away from his ship so that it could get away now. Fox waits a few moments before he starts to get ready to engage his thrusters. "Alright guys, I'm gone." say Fox before pressing forward on the thrust and arwing's engines light on up as they get ready and there is large thrusting burst as the arwing shoots forward and out of the docking bay and into open space. Fox immediately checks all his instruments and sees everything seems to be in working order and grins as he looks towards planet Fichina where he was about to head on down to one more time. "Alright guys, everything is all set, I'm heading on down to the surface now. I will come back up hopefully when it is 

over. See you then." says Fox and hits his thrusts forward and zooms off towards the planet at a nice speed. Fox sure hoped he was ready, because he was heading towards the planet now, he close to getting to the atmosphere where he would need to slow on down for entry. There would be no turning back then, but there was really no turning back now anyway, so he just hoped everything was going to be fine.


End file.
